The Causes of Management Conflict

by T. Stephenson


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Abstract

The article discusses causes of management conflict. Some sources of conflict within the structure of management are conflict may arise from resentment at certain types of authority, it may also develop out of the organizational structure, conflict between the specialist and line management, between specialists, between departments, between shifts, conflicts between different levels of management and between individuals and departments when jurisdiction is vague. Conflict may also be of a personal nature arising out of different prospects, differing educational, geographical and social backgrounds. The difference between conflicts of an organizational type and those of a personal type must not be allowed to obscure the fact that the organizational conflicts are expressed through people. Conflicts that have been examined tend to occur when needs and aspirations of the individual manager have been or have appeared to be threatened, when the exercise of authority has conflicted with his notion of human dignity, when his security, his status and his exercise of power have been under pressure and when he has felt that he is riot receiving fair treatment. The problem for higher management is to determine how far, some attempt should be made to remove causes of the tension.

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